Scenes from the polls around York County

Volunteer wants attention to economy and debt

Kathy Feeser had a second coat in the car, and the Hanover-area resident said she was going to need it. She stood outside the Penn Township municipal building around 3 p.m. on Tuesday, shivering.

"It's worth it," she said, pointing to the T-shirt under her fleece jacket.

Feeser was helping to campaign for Mitt Romney, offering a flier and a kind word to anyone willing to stand in the cold wind long enough to listen. For Feeser, the campaigning was a first.

LOCAL. M. B. Whisler joins the crowd in a chant of "Four more years!" after the announcement of President Obama's re-election. YORK DAILY RECORD/SUNDAY NEWS--JASON PLOTKIN (JASON PLOTKIN)

"Things got so bad," she said, "I finally had to get out of my chair and do something."

Feeser said a sputtering economy and an ever-growing debt need to be addressed.

"My grandchildren are going to have to pay that back," she said. "I don't like that at all."

Concerned about ID

Mil Richter, of Penn Township, waited in the car as her son eased the walker out of the back seat. The 92-year-old wouldn't think of missing Election Day.

"It's a habit," she said.

Richter has been voting since 1940. Her son, Bob, 63, hasn't missed a presidential election since 1972, he said, and this year was no different. Both usually vote a straight Democratic ticket.

Bob Richter worried there could be a problem with his mother's ID. She stopped driving a while ago, and her license expired last month. Some of her girlfriends were in the same fix, he said.

It worked out fine -- ID wasn't required this time around, just requested -- and the pair both voted for President Barack Obama. Bob Richter said he doesn't always agree with the Democrats, but he usually finds more in common with them than with Republican politicians.

"It's the lesser of two evils, I guess," he said.

'Voting was cool'

Six-year-old Richard Stough walked into the Spring Grove municipal building with his father, Festus, and stood quietly as the pair waited in line. There were eight people in front of them, around 4 p.m.

The boy watched as his father first showed an ID card, then moved across the council chamber to an electronic voting machine. Moments later, the pair walked outside.

"I did my vote!" Richard yelled, pointing to his chest.

Well, said his father, who's been voting since he was 18, not exactly. But you did get that American flag sticker on your shirt, he said. Festus Stough tousled his son's hair as they walked to the car.

"Voting was cool," the boy said.

A rush of voters

About half of the registered voters in Shrewsbury Township's 2nd precinct had cast their ballots by late Tuesday afternoon.

"This is the busiest I've ever seen," said Daniel Pierce, judge of elections.

The gymnasium at the Shrewsbury Elementary School remained packed until lunchtime, he said. He anticipated another rush in the evening as people returned home from work.

Pierce predicted that turnout this year will surpass the past presidential election.

First time voting for a Republican

Karl Ohmann of Shrewsbury Township said he voted for Romney because he's disappointed with the way things are going with the country.

Barry Montag, of West Manchester Township, hands out literature in support of 4th District Congressional candidate Scott Perry at the Shiloh Fire Company in West Manchester Tuesday. (YORK DAILY RECORD/SUNDAY NEWS - KATE PENN)

"That's the first time I ever voted Republican, too," he said.

He cited all the country's debt and the lack of jobs as his concerns.

"Hopefully, it'll change if he wins," he said.

Man didn't like poll encounter

Scott Parson said he felt "a little bit intimidated" when he went to vote Tuesday at a fire house in Newberry Township.

Voters used a narrow walkway to reach the polling area, and people handing out literature for Romney/Ryan all but pushed it into his chest, he said.

"I almost had to shoulder my way past them," he said.

Parson, 34, said he's never encountered that in the past. A woman behind him also mentioned it.

People handing out literature need to be at least 10 feet from the door, said Nikki Suchanic, director of the York County Department of Elections and Voter Registration.

Parson estimated they were beyond the 10 feet, so they were in compliance.

Bob Wilson, chairman of the York County Republican Party, could not be reached for comment Tuesday evening.

Determined to be first, despite the cold

An elderly woman was the first in line at Springettsbury Township's Fifth Precinct at the York Art Association on South Marshall Street.

She arrived at 6:10 a.m. -- 50 minutes before poll workers were allowed to open the door.

"She wanted to be first," said judge of elections Linda Hudson.

The woman sat on a stone bench at the entrance to the art gallery in the frigid pre-dawn.

Hudson said she advised the woman to wait in her car, which was parked right in front of the building, telling her it would be warmer than sitting on the bench.

She declined and told Hudson, "I don't want to lose my spot."

Keep your distance at the polls

People trickled into the Salvation Army in York to cast their votes in the afternoon. Volunteer James Nimer said the only problem they had was with people outside the building not standing far enough away from the entrance.

Nimer said people are supposed to stand 10 feet from the entrance. Instead, many were right outside the door and telling voters they had to take surveys before they could go inside, he said.

Nimer told them he would call the police if they didn't "cool it down."

Romney sign visible from I-83

The large Mitt Romney/Paul Ryan sign affixed to the side of the Perform Group building in North York was tough to miss, especially for drivers traveling along Interstate 83.

And that's what Tighe King , CEO and chairman of the company, said he intended when he put up the political advertisement a week ago.

"The sign is more for the people who drive along I-83 than for the workers," he said. "I'm very proud to be an American, and I have freedom of speech. It's my building."

Perform Group manufactures dance wear, dance costumes and competitive gymnastics apparel for both men and women. The company employs roughly 400.

King said he questions President Barack Obama's leadership skills.

"This election is all the economy," King said. "Economically, his actions demonstrate an ineptitude of understanding of what it takes to build an economy."

Dissatisfied with Obama

Cynthia Acker, 58, voted Tuesday for only the second time -- the first time was four years ago, for Barack Obama.

Maybe that's why she's now so critical of him, she said. This time, she voted strictly Republican.

"I'm not satisfied with the way Obama is doing things," she said, outside her polling place in Stewartstown. "He had four years to show us what he could do. He didn't do what I expected."

Giving his kids some experience

Van Lewis, 34, let his kids, age 12 and 16, push the buttons to cast his votes in West York.

"Give them a little experience," he said.

Lewis said he didn't think Mitt Romney was the right person for the job of president.

"As bad as Obama's been," he said, he'd rather see four more years with him than with Romney. "Give him his other four, and see what happens."

It was the lesser of two evils

Karen Boyd did a lot of research and debating before deciding how to vote Tuesday, at her polling place in West York.

"This was a hard one," she said, describing making a choice as picking the lesser of two evils in the presidential race.

"You've got to pick and choose your battles," she said. She agrees with Obama on a lot, but he still scares her, she said. "Romney scares me more."

She left the polling place with daughter Kasey Gonse, 7, who voted in a mock election at school. Obama won that one.

He didn't like either candidate for president

Matt O'Brien, 29, couldn't vote for Barack Obama or Mitt Romney with a clear conscience, he said, leaving the West York Fire Company.

Both major party candidates didn't pass his social-issues test, mainly on abortion among other issues, he said, adding that they were pretty much the same on foreign policy. But there were some domestic issue differences, and he'd probably lean more Republican there.

So he cast a vote for someone else, even though he knew that person wouldn't win.

Sometimes you just have to do what's right, he said.

"Our soldiers bled for this responsibility and this right," he said of voting.

A broken leg couldn't keep him from voting

Mike Nardelli, a West York Area School District kindergarten and first-grade teacher, believes so strongly in his right and civic duty to vote that he limped into his Springettsbury Township poll Tuesday afternoon on the leg he broke Sunday.

Nardelli looked a little sheepish when asked how he broke his right leg, his fibula to be exact.

"Oh, I was running down the steps," he said. "You know, shenanigans."

"I think it's important to exercise your right to vote, make yourself heard," he said.

Supporters for competitors got along fine

Rep. Stan Saylor, the state house majority whip, spent the day campaigning for fellow York County Rep. Keith Gillespie, R-Hellam Township, for the 47th District. He had some interesting company.

The only other campaigner at Precinct 5 in the Springettsbury Township poll was Michael Golub, the father of Gillespie's opponent, Sarah Speed.

Golub said he flew into BWI on Saturday from his home in Rancho Cucamonga, Cal.

"I had to be here to support Sarah in her first run," he said.

Golub said he was scheduled to fly out Wednesday afternoon.

Saylor, R-Windsor Township, and Golub said they got along great at the poll.

"He's the politician," Golub said. "He does all of the talking, and I just listen."

A 'handful' declined to show ID

Springettsbury Township Precinct 5 poll captain Mike Papas said he was seeing a high voter turnout and a low number of complaints to poll workers asking voters to show identification.

"We've had a handful who have said, 'I have ID but I don't have to show it to you,'" Papas said. "I tell them, 'You're absolutely right. You can vote.'"

Papas said there was "no real demographic" to the voters who refused to show identification.

"Their complaint is 'The government is taking our rights away,'" he said.

None of those voters said possibly having to show ID in the next election would stop them from voting, Papas said.

He said most voters were happy to show identification, and many had their IDs out before they signed in to vote.